It never would have been difficult to understand if we in the West hadn't forgotten the ways in which we forged our own resilience and strength under the constraints of religious and monarchal despotism.

Politically speaking, no regime in the region, whether democratic, authoritarian or monarchal, can convince its people that it's acceptable for Israel to have undeclared nuclear weapons but not for Iran, a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to acquire similar technology.

Foremost among these is the singular issue of the understanding of freedom and independence from the monarchal rule of Kings won in the pitched battles between the Highlanders and the Kings troops best put to rest on the field at Bannockburn.